Earby Chronicles

Edition 87 WINTER 2017 www.earbyhistory.co.uk

SOCIETY AIMS: to raise awareness, LAUNCH OF NEW PUBLICATION “WISH YOU WERE foster an interest HERE—EARBY HOLIDAYS OF YESTERYEAR” and facilitate £1.50 research into the heritage of Earby & district including Thornton in Craven, Sough, Kelbrook, Harden, Hague and Salterforth.

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Secretary: Margaret Brown

Phone 01282 843932

Editor of Chronicles: Stephanie Carter

Phone 01756 794099

Treasurer/ Archivist : Wendy Faulkner The Society’s latest publication, written by Phone 01282 863160 Stephanie Carter and generously spon- sored by cottages.com , was successfully

Committee: launched at the Community Centre on Trevor Tattersall 30th September. Picnic snacks and lunch- Margaret Greenwood Steve Marshall es were provided by Just Ask Jess and Bob Abel enjoyed by our many supporters.

Website: The book, costing £10, is available from www.earbyhistory.co. the Society or by post for £10 +£2.50 P&P uk from EDLHS, Lower Burnt Hill Farm, Skip-

Email: ton Old Road, Colne BB8 7ER. info@earbyhistory .co.uk Our next publication will be on the history of Earby Prize Brass Band.

Recent features

Page 2 Centenary of Battle of Passchendaele, Jean Eccles & Dorothy MacInnes Page 7 Wash in Water from the Beck, Drought in Earby, Bob Abel & Peter Dawson £2.50 Page 11 Earby Station 1949-52 Final Part of Memoir, Rodney Hampson Members of 1 Society free Earby Chronicles

CENTENARY OF THE BATTLE OF PASSCHENDAELE - THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES by Jean Eccles and Dorothy MacInnes.

Our grandfather, Bertie Cowgill, of Earby, who was serving with the Northumber- land Fusiliers in WW1, was killed on 16th August 1917 in the Battle of Langemarck, during the Third Battle of Ypres. He has no known grave and his name is inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial, which commemorates nearly 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, who died on the Ypres Salient, on and after the 16th August 1917 and whose graves are not known. The names of the 54,000 soldiers who were killed before 16th August 1917 are inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial.

In January 2017, we saw an advert by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the daily newspaper, for applications for tickets to the commemoration service for the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele and decided to apply. In March 2017 we received an email, saying that we had been successful in the ballot, and the event would take place on the 31st July 2017 at Tyne Cot Cemetery. We then had to arrange our own transport and accommodation, which didn’t look as though it would be too easy! Fortu- nately, we then saw another advert in the daily newspaper - this time by Leger Holidays - advertising a five day holiday, specifically covering the weekend of the commemoration service, so we decided to let Leger do all the hard work for us! We had numerous email updates over the next four months, which gave us confidence that everything was being very carefully planned and organised.

We left Nelson early on Saturday, 29th July and drove to Dover, for our Channel crossing, and then through France and over the Belgian border, to a Best Western Hotel in Mouscron, Belgium. The following morning, after a good breakfast at the hotel, we began our tour, with Mark, our excellent Battlefield Guide, at the Passchendaele Memorial Mu- seum, Zonnebeke, on the outskirts of Ypres. There were special military displays taking place over the weekend and, in the museum was a recreation of a WW1 dugout.

We then drove on to the Pilkem Ridge Battlefield and stopped at a Welsh Cemetery, where a plaque had just been unveiled to the Welsh poet, Ellis Humphrey Evans, who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele. We visited the German Ceme- tery at Langemark and later stopped on the banks of the Steenbeke River, where Harry Patch, the “Last Fighting Tommy” who died in 2009, aged 111, had placed a memorial stone to his lost comrades, and this was particularly poignant as it was the area where the Northumberland Fusiliers had been in action, when our grandfather was killed. Our next stop was at Artillery Wood Cemetery, where there was a private ceremony taking place. A lady was commemorating the death of her grandfather, who had died one hundred years ago to that day. We were invited by the family to join them in the short service, which included the singing of “Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah” (Cwm Rhondda) and “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended”, led by a lady with a beautiful soprano voice, and it was very moving indeed.

From there, we went into Ypres and made our way to the Market Square, where there were very strict security regulations before entering. Every evening, at 8.00pm, at the Menin Gate, the Last Post Ceremony takes place, and has taken place every evening since 2nd July 1928, except for a few years during WWII, when Belgium was occupied by the Germans once again.

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The Menin Gate

Wreaths on the Stone of Remembrance Tyne Cot and at the Menin Gate

Cross of Sacrifice Tyne Cot and Memorial Wall Tyne Cott

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Only descendants of those named on the Menin Gate Memorial were able to obtain tickets for that ceremony, so we were watching on a large screen in the Market Square. We watched a procession of dignitaries: Royal British Legion Standard Bearers and the descendants of the WW1 soldiers, led by the Royal Highland Pipes and Drums, as they made their way to the Menin Gate. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Theresa May attended the ceremony.

After the Menin Gate ceremony, there was a break of about an hour, when the cafes in the square remained open and then, at sundown, a “multi-media commemorative event” began, telling the story of the First World War on the Ypres Salient, with particular focus on the Third Battle of Ypres, with projections on to the walls of the Cloth Hall, alongside live theatri- cal and musical performances, which included the National Youth Choir of Scotland; the Royal Marine Band, Plymouth; Helen Mirren; Alfie Boe; a specially adapted piece from “The War Horse” story, narrated by the author, Michael Morpurgo, and excerpts from “The Wip- ers Times”, introduced by Ian Hislop. The Royal visitors were also present for this event. The performance finished at 11.00pm, and we were back in our hotel by midnight.

On Monday, 31st July, which was the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Passchen- daele, which lasted for over one hundred days, the UK Government was hosting the commemoration service at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Tyne Cot Cemetery. This is the largest CWGC cemetery in the world in terms of burials. There are 11,961 Com- monwealth servicemen buried there, of whom more than 8,300 remain unidentified. The site also contains the Tyne Cot Memorial, where our grandad’s name is recorded.

We drove to a designated area for coaches, on the outskirts of Ypres, where we then caught a shuttle bus to the Passchendaele Memorial Museum Park at Zonnebeke, which we had visited the previous day. There we went into a large marquee, where we had to show our tickets and passports, and were electronically searched and fitted with a purple wristband. We were each given a bag containing various leaflets, badges, two crosses with poppies, to place wherever we wished in the cemetery, and a book containing the order of service giving all the hymns, speeches and information and photos about the Battle of Pass- chendaele. We then received another bag containing a snack - two breakfast bars, an ap- ple and a bottle of water and then queued for another shuttle bus to take us to Tyne Cot Cemetery. (No-one was allowed to make their own way to the cemetery.)

We hadn’t been able to book seats for the service, so we knew we would have a long time to stand. Unfortunately, three weeks previously, Dorothy had a very bad attack of Labyrin- thitis - something she had never experienced before - and was still very unsteady on her feet. We positioned ourselves behind a half-empty block of seats and, as it got nearer to the service time, we were told we could use the remaining seats.

Three bands were playing for the ceremony - The Royal Marines, the Plymouth Welsh Guards and the Central Band of the RAF. Prince Charles was in attendance, along with the Royals and Theresa May from the previous day. The service was very moving, with an in- troduction by Prince Charles, followed by music, hymns, poetry and prayers. Currently- serving military personnel read letters written by soldiers in the trenches and the readers had been specially selected to represent the nationalities or spoken tongue of those letter writers. The service began at 1.00pm and lasted about fifty minutes, followed by a fly-past by the Belgian Air Force.

It was a lovely, sunny day, so we spent some time after the ceremony, looking at our gran-

4 Earby Chronicles dad’s name on the Memorial Wall, viewing other memorials and the wreaths which were laid during the service. We then joined a very long queue for the shuttle bus back to Zonne- beke, but had only been queueing for about five minutes, when they decided to bring some coaches to the back entrance of the cemetery; so we turned round and caught the shuttle almost immediately. Back at Zonnebeke, Prince Charles was there “meeting” the War Horse. Bands were playing and we were given a “posh” packed lunch, after which we caught the shuttle bus to our coach and then back to our hotel in Mouscron.

On Tuesday, 1st August, we began by visiting Polygon Wood, which changed hands several times during the First World War, and the Buttes New British Cemetery, which also contains New Zealand and Australian memorials. We then stopped at Black Watch Corner, where a statue of a Black Watch Soldier was unveiled in 2014 to commemorate casualties of three separate battles in this area in 1914, during the First Battle of Ypres. We then drove on to Hooge, with its small but excellent museum and trench system. After lunch, we returned to Ypres to see all the wreaths which had been laid at the Menin Gate during the Sunday evening Last Post ceremony.

Our final visit was to the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, the second largest British and Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium. This was the site of a Casualty Clearing Station and unfortunately, showed the number of soldiers who were brought here for treatment, but did not survive their wounds. We also saw the grave of Staff Nurse Nellie Spindler, who was working at the Clearing Station, when it was hit by German shells. She was 26 and came from Wakefield, Yorkshire, and is one of only two British female casualties of the First World War to be buried in Belgium. At Lijssenthoek two of our party were able to lay a wreath on the grave of their uncle, who had been killed exactly one hundred years ago to that day.

We left Mouscron at 8.00am on Wednesday 2nd August and drove to Calais for our ferry crossing, arriving back in Nelson at 10.00pm. We really did feel we had had a very memorable experience and couldn’t praise highly enough Leger Holidays and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for their organisation of travel and events. We couldn’t fault them in any way.

PASSCHENDAELE POSTSCRIPT

Further to the names listed in the Autumn edition of the Chronicles—the following brave men are added to the list of those who gave their lives at Passchendaele and who were also remembered at the Memorial Service at Sough Park on 12th Novem- ber: following the Town Council’s brilliant poppy dis- play on lamps throughout the town:

Thomas Ashton (Border Regiment) aged 20 John William Ogden (York & Lancaster Regiment) aged 39 Hubert Pickering (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) aged 27 Alfred Spencer (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) aged 25 Alfred Woodhouse (Royal Berkshire Regiment)

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EARBY & DISTRICT 50 YEARS AGO – 1967

Taken by the Chronicles’ Editor from the Craven Herald

October A scheme to renovate the Albion Hall and make it available for public letting was being considered by a committee appointed to look into the future of the business. The whole building was owned by a building committee with a number of directors. The Conservative Club rent their premises below the Albion Hall from the building company. At one time the Conservatives used the Albion Hall extensively for their own activities but today it is little used and has not been used socially for 10 years. As a result the condition of the Albion Hall had deteriorated and needed to be modernised. It was envisaged that the stage would be removed, the building re-wired and re-decorated, the dowdy entrance improved, a bar installed, cloakroom and toilets modernised, kitchen facilities improved, the ceiling under- drawn and the exterior of the building checked for damp. It was also envisaged that modern individual tables and chairs would be purchased and that 130 people could be accommo- dated. Once the plans were finalised, a public appeal for money to assist with bringing the plan to fruition would be launched.

Severe flooding again affected Earby, with Station Officer R Evans in charge of the Earby Fire Brigade describing the conditions as worse than those in July. All the shops in Water Street and at the bottom of Victoria Road were badly affected including those of Eric & Elsie Douthwaite who only a few months ago had carried out an extension and modernisation of their shop. Hundreds of dresses, suits, children’s clothes, underwear and corsetry were ru- ined. At Vokes they were mopping up and there were renewed demands for the Council to speed up its implementation of suggestions for overcoming the problem.

November The possibility of a new car park in Albert Street was being investigated by Earby Council.

West Craven’s latest industry, the new brick works, sprang into life. It had cost £250,000 and was making bricks at the rate of 5,000 an hour.

December At the annual dinner at the Coronation Hotel and annual general meeting at the Sta- tion Hotel of the cricket club there was much to celebrate, due to the team having won both the Ribblesdale League and the Ramsbottom Club under the captaincy of Colin Madden. The second eleven were runners-up in the Junior Section. Secretary Mr D Speak heaped praise on the team, on the “super-optimist” captain Colin Madden, the professional M Den- nett, the second team captain B Meldrum and all, especially the supporters, who had contributed to the great spirit in the club.

Sir Alec Clegg addressed West Craven parents, outlining the proposed plan for Compre- hensive Education.

250 daffodil bulbs were planted on the verge of the road leading from Thornton to Bar- noldswick.

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“WASH IN WATER FROM BECK” DROUGHT IN EARBY Bob Abel & Peter Dawson

We often talk about flooding in Earby but not about the incidences of drought of which there were several during the first half of the 20th century.

In 1913 13th September the Burnley Express reported: “In view of the condition of the Earby water supply, the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Falcon- er, issued a notice to the consumers of Earby Water Company, stating that owing to the continued drought there is a great scarcity of water throughout the district, all customers are urgently advised to boil and filter all water used for drinking and culinary uses. It is nec- essary that boiling and filtering should be continued for a period after the cessation of the drought.” It was also reported that there was a shortage of cooling water for the mill engines and that Spring Mill had had to stop 123 looms and 50 weavers were laid off. As the drought continued more mills had to stop looms.

In 1921 a heatwave and lack of rain caused another drought. Ironically in this year a Bill was going through Parliament to enable Earby Urban District Council to take over the water undertakings of Earby Water Company and Kelbrook Water Company.

In 1947 31st October the Barnoldswick and Earby Times reported: “Earby UDC have been reliant on the Barnoldswick supply for some time as their resources are exhausted… The level of water at Elslack reservoir is 5ft 9”… about 8½ million gallons…but with Earby also being served the present daily usage is in the region of ½ million gallons”. Barnoldswick quickly agreed with Earby’s request as Earby had come to Barnoldswick’s rescue a few months earlier when Barnoldswick were caught napping by an unusually pro- longed winter drought.

1955 also produced a major water emergency in Earby. July saw the lowest rainfall for 44 years. Peter Dawson recalls the drastic measures that were undertaken. The usual bans on using tap water for watering gardens and washing cars etc, and the water supply being cut off at certain hours of the day still proved to be insufficient. Then as now, leaks in the water main were causing a worrying loss of water and the Coun- cil designated three men on rotating shifts to check the pipe lines for significant losses. This was done by means of portable water meters and isolating sections of the main to see if a flow of water was detected, indicating a leak.

Peter recalls that one night while on leak checking duty he was stopped by the police who suspected him of being a chicken rustler. By autumn drastic measures were required as in- dicated by a headline in the Craven Herald for 7th October 1955.

In 1955 Earby and Kelbrook were supplied by water gathered from the moors to the east. There were four reservoirs under EUDC, three above Earby and one above Kelbrook. The Earby ones were, in descending order, Bleara reservoir, Bawhead reservoir and a smaller covered reservoir, the latter probably being Earby’s original reservoir. They were interconnected, each one feeding the lower and the bottom one feeding the town’s water

7 Earby Chronicles main. There were times when water was low and the head of water in the lower reservoir was insufficient to supply the top of Red Lion Street. At some point a separated feed pipe was installed to overcome this problem. One disadvantage with the top reservoir, Bleara, was that it was lined with clay covered by stones and if it was allowed to run dry for any length of time the clay dried out and cracked and as the reservoir subsequently refilled naturally there were many leaks until the clay re- hydrated and the clacks closed up. Consequently it was normally kept full and only used in emergencies.

“WASH IN WATER FROM THE BECK – Desperate measures sought to meet Earby drought”. Left Bawhead Reservoir , Right Bleara Reservoir The chairman of Earby Urban District Council Public Works Committee, Mr J W Green- wood, stated that people who can get water from Wentcliffe Beck for washing purposes, without hardship, would be greatly helping the situation by doing so …it was stressed that it was not fit for drinking. Possible other sources of water were being discussed, including tap- ping into one of Spring Mill’s springs but it was decided that the water in the long disused Thornton Rock Quarry could be used to augment the dwindling water supply. But how was the water to be treated and supplied to the town?

It was resolved to pump the water up into Elslack reservoir where it could be treated and fed into the supply line. It was said that there was 100ft of water in the quarry and it was even rumoured that there was an abandoned steam locomotive from the quarry’s working days in the bottom. A major engineering scheme was devised.

Pipe Laying and Submarine Pump on Barge at Thornton Rock

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Two small ex WWII landing barges were obtained and lowered down the quarry side and into the water. There they provided a platform for a submersible pump. A small rowing boat was also lowered into the water to allow access to the floating platform. Then a temporary 4 inch pipe-line had to be laid to take the pumped water all the way up to the Elslack reservoir, a mammoth and expensive undertaking, undertaken jointly be Earby and Barnoldswick Urban District Councils. The pipe went through the quarry tunnel and under the railway and then along the land surface or sometimes in shallow trenches up to the reservoir. It transpired that the depth of water in the quarry was much less than at first thought and the whole exercise did little to alleviate the water shortage.

The drought eventually broke but the effects of the 1955 drought lasted until Christmas. Peter recalls that later the Craven Water Board sank a bore hole above Earby up Stoney Bank to take advantage of an underground lake some 500ft below ground level which had been created by a fault in the geology. Unfortunately the water contained sulphur, probably in the form of hydrogen sulphide (bad egg smell) and had a green colouration. The hydrogen sulphide was dissipated by aeration and consequently the contaminated water had to be allowed to stand in the open reservoir before being used. ADVERTS FROM 19th CENTURY LOCAL PAPERS 1847,1867,1877, 1881

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REMEMBERING NORMAN GOODWIN AND FAMILY

Research by Bob Abel, Stephanie Carter and with additional information from Irene Stacey

An article in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer in November 1949 high- lighted some of the angling exploits of a well- known Earby man. Under the heading “Norman Goodwin, all-rounder”, T K Wilson wrote: “A familiar figure for over 30 years on the dales’ stretches of our Yorkshire rivers, where both the trout and the grayling have every reason to remember him, Norman Good- win did his first trout fishing as a lad in Earby beck, near Skipton. He took a two-pounder from under the nose of the angler who had been planning its capture for weeks. Since then he has had more than his share of the grandfathers of the race, best to date being a fish of 3lbs 6 ozs from the Wharfe at Linton when using a 20 hook on 10X gut. For the downfall of big trout he doubts if there is any better all-round-the-season lure than a big black-headed lob-worm. As an angler Norman is undoubtedly at his best when conditions are most difficult, a trait he developed in the early days of his apprenticeship to the craft on hard-fished associ- ation preserves on the Aire, Wharfe and Ure. Though it is doubtful if he realised it, he was in those days a yard stick by which fel- low anglers judged the true worth of their own performances. Had his lot been cast in match fishing circles, he would undoubtedly have made a name for himself. It was as a bait fisher that he first came to the fore, but he has added considerably to his reputation in recent years by his showing with the fly rod. His greatest pleasure nowadays is in dry fly fishing, for which he favours a steel rod and nylon casts; and he rings the changes on Tups, Greenwells, Iron Blue and Badger Hackle. For wet fly fishing he considers Waterhen, Light Snipe and Dark Watchet a useful trio. In the spring the cow-dung as top dropper invariably pays handsome dividends. The modern tendency to specialise in one particular style he regrets; fish favour a varied diet and the wise angler aims at being versatile. Further, he would like to see more bait fishermen trying their skill at fly fishing which is neither so complicated nor so difficult as they imagine. The Aire he pits first for quality fish, and for night fly fishing, but prefers a day on the picturesque Wharfe, where he fishes the Grassington Club’s preserves.”

In August 1963 a sad day for Earby was reported on in the Craven Herald: “Earby was shocked on Monday to learn of a double fatalilty in which Mr Norman Goodwin and his wife Winifred, of Stoopes Hill Earby were both killed. Mrs Goodwin died instantly and Mr Goodwin died in an ambulance on the way to hospital. The accident occurred near Newby Bridge in the Lake District, when the van in which Mr Goodwin was driving for a day’s fishing in the Cockermouth area collided with a heavy milk wagon. The driver of the wagon was not injured, nor was a pet Spaniel owned by Mr & Mrs Goodwin and which was in the van at the time. There were few better known men in Earby than Mr Goodwin, who was a native of the town. In his younger days he worked in the cotton industry but from childhood his chief interest had been fishing, and it was in this connection that he was known throughout the North, and indeed throughout the country. He himself was a superb angler, and for many years had a business selling fishing tackle. It was at the bottom of Stoneybank Road for years, until that property was demol- ished under a slum clearance programme, after which Mr Goodwin transferred to a shop in New Road.

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To his premises came fishermen from all parts of the country and from many places overseas, seeking his advice, hearing his angling stories, and to buy equipment. He was a skilled craftsman at manufacturing certain types of fishing tackle and invented several pieces of equipment which proved a boon to the angler, including a salmon gaff. He made fishing rods. Always fond of the country Mr Goodwin was also an expert shot. He was a charac- ter in the true and best sense of the word and will be sadly missed in the district. Mr Goodwin is survived by one daughter, Jean who lives in School Lane. Her hus- band Mr Norman Sheldrick is on the staff of the Divisional Education Office, Skipton. ..”

A funeral service was held for the couple, who were both aged 63, at Mount Zion Baptist Church. The body of the church was filled and outside a large crowd showed their last respects to a friendly and popular couple who were known to almost everyone in the town. There was genuine sympathy for the relatives.

A good friend of Jean Goodwin Sheldrick, Irene Stacey, has written to the Society with news of Jean’s death at the age of 92 in May of this year in New Zealand. Irene and Jean, friends since 1943, worked together at the Rover Company at Sough Mill. At the time of her parents’ death Jean was married to Norman Sheldrick, “ex Barnoldswick lad, ex Grammar School boy, ex Air Force”, and living in School Lane. She never settled after the accident and the couple emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand, where Norman got a good job as a bursar in a Girl’s High School. Irene Stacey visited the couple in 1998 and found Norman following his love of fishing and Jean having excelled at sculpture, cooking and handicrafts, after raising two children. In more recent years it was a tragedy when Jean lost her sight and the couple moved into sheltered accommodation prior to Jean’s death. They had always welcomed news from “home” and much enjoyed copies of the Craven Herald and the EDLHS Chronicles sent out on a regular basis by their good friend Irene Stacey. EARBY STATION 1949-1952 Final Part of Memoir by Rodney Hampson

Goods, coal and livestock On the east side of the goods yard entrance was a weigh-bridge and weigh-office, and one or two coal merchants’ offices. There were several goods and coal sidings, one near the main line passing a 5-ton crane and leading through the goods shed to a cattle-food warehouse beyond. The station site ended to the north with the 1920s-style station master’s house.

Goods and coal wagons were brought in and taken out by freight trips, working between Skipton and Barnoldswick’ Before the advent of road haulage, the goods yard had been largely used for the cotton trade; receiving weft for the weaving firms and sending out cotton cloth to customers in Manchester or elsewhere. To conceal the identity of customers, cloth for Manchester middlemen was usually sent to Salford goods station ‘to the order of (say) XYZ’, only the Salford railway staff knowing who XYZ was. In this way, Earby mill workers, carters and local railway staff didn’t know who was the customer. With wartime restriction on production and the growth of road haulage, cotton goods had largely ceased to be sent by rail. Bristol Tractors of Sough sent completed tractors by rail to Liverpool or London docks for

11 EARBYEarby CHRONICLES Chronicles export, crated and roped down in open trucks. In my time, the peak despatch was a whole fifty-truck special train to Liverpool – only once – though ten or twenty trucks were quite usual. We became familiar with the names of shipping firms like Hogg, Robinson and Capel Cure, and Tozer, Kemsley and Millbourn

Tractors to Europe were sent in covered ferry vans. No Channel Tunnel then: ferry vans were shunted onto ferry boats at Dover and off again at Calais. The ferry vans themselves were longer than UK vans, and of slightly larger dimensions. Each bore the warning ‘Not to travel between Tonbridge and Hastings’, a line with narrow clearances. When ferry vans were needed for tractors to say France, they had to be ordered in ad- vance. Armoride of Grove Mill received occasional loads of chemicals from France. When ferry vans were emptied, they had to be reported for sending where they were needed in UK. Our moment of glory came when Earby station received a ferry van from France with chemicals for Armoride and then re-loaded it with tractors back to France! Otherwise, goods traffic was miscellaneous shop deliveries and domestic items. Through the war, Arthur Grin- nell had been the checker in charge of goods; followed on his retirement by George Crowther. There was a goods office attached to the warehouse, and by 1948 was judged to require half a clerk. Reg Bowcock, who was a semi-invalid clerk from Cononley held the job, until the accounting system was concentrated on Skipton Goods Office. Reg was moved to Skipton, and we booking clerks took over the remaining goods clerical work. The physical manifestation was a steel cupboard in the already cramped booking office. Collections and deliveries in the town were made by a railway lorry from Barnoldswick.

Earby’s coal traffic was from West Yorkshire pits. I remember that George Preston was the leading domestic coal merchant, bagging coal out of the railway trucks in the sidings. There was also industrial coal either for Earby gas works or Birley’s mill, carted by horse and tip- ping cart. Bagged loads were not weighed over the station weighbridge, but loose loads were weighed on the vehicle weighbridge by the booking clerk, scrambling off the platform across the Barnoldswick branch line. Incidentally, the young gasworks clerk came to the station occasionally, and we sympathised with each other about our (then) declining indus- tries.

South of the station crossing, there was a ‘cattle dock’ on the down side. Movement of cattle, sheep, pigs and horses had been a major business for the railways, and, like Earby, most stations had a raised platform with one or more cattle pens on a siding with road access. With the growth of cattle haulage by road between the wars, these had mostly fallen into disuse, but the Earby dock continued to be used regularly. Harrisons, cattle dealers, who operated from White House farm on Salterforth Lane, bought cattle in Scotland and sent them south to Earby by rail.

The government had instituted a scheme to eradicate bovine tuberculosis, area by area, starting in the far north of Scotland. Cows in an area were tested, and those which re-acted to the tuberculosis test (‘reactors’) were sold away from the area. This was an entirely legiti- mate trade, and Harrisons took part. The rail cattle trucks were put off during the night, and Harrisons drove their purchases under a low railway bridge onto their farm.

It was routine to inspect the loaded cattle trucks en route. At Carlisle, the major railway junction between Scotland and England, there was a ‘lairage’ for cattle, manned by experienced staff. Each truck was accompanied by a railway invoice, and these were occasionally endorsed ‘Carlisle, cow down’ (off its feet) or, more rarely ‘cow calved, flaked off’. A ‘flake’ was a moveable partition within a cattle truck, used to protect the cow and calf.

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A more regular agricultural traffic was the warehousing and delivery of cattle foods for Sil- cocks, cattle-food suppliers. They had an arrangement with the railways to provide de- tached vermin-proof stores at railway stations. Silcocks sent van-loads from their depot at Hull for railway staff to unload into their store, and Silcock’s local agent brought in his orders for delivery to local farms by railway lorry. This operated at Earby, and I think the local agent was Mr Windle of Embsay. It wasn’t simple: the sacks were basically uniform with sometimes very little difference in the thirty or more names of the contents. Moreover, the stock had to be delivered oldest first, so dates as well as names had to be observed carefully.

A more arcane involvement with farmers was ‘de-rating rebate’. In the 1930s, farmers were entirely relieved of local rates, and industry and railways of three-quarters. A condition was that railways gave a rebate to farmers on rail transport costs. In the 1940s farmers were still alert to this, though using far less rail transport, and occasionally asked for it.

Continuing Earby station’s agricultural connections, there was a Milk Marketing Board arrangement for regularly testing milking cows for the butter-fat content of their milk. The ‘butterfat’ samplers visited the registered herds and took milk samples. These were then sent by passenger train, in converted ammunition boxes, to MMB laboratories at either York or Newcastle-under-Lyme for testing. The railway’s part of course was transporting the samples and carrying back the empty boxes. The farmers were supposed to collect them from the station but never did, so these angular steel boxes hung about for weeks, until the ‘butterfat ladies’ collected them on their way to the farms.

Another ‘livestock’ traffic was homing or racing pigeons. This was a popular working-men’s sport, facilitated by the railways. A day-to-day feature was sending baskets of pigeons by rail to distant stations, there to be released by station staff and fly their way home. The basket label was endorsed with the time of release, and the empty basket returned to its owner. The birds learnt their way to their home loft, and the owner got some idea of speed from the release time. The real test came at weekends in season, when special pigeon trains ran, picking up baskets of birds at wayside stations, for release at selected stations at distances, increasing through the year. . No scribbled times on basket labels: the birds had their ring numbers recorded with exact despatch times in special clocks, operated by volunteers who travelled with the birds and released them individually. The owners ‘clocked’ them in on their return to their ‘home’ lofts and in due course, the fastest birds were identified. I imagine there was betting on birds, and certainly the fastest birds were very valuable. Specially adapted motor vehicles later took over this lucrative business.

Conclusion So much for my memories of Earby station between 1949 and 1952. The railways had been losing ground to buses, coaches and lorries before the 1939-45 War. Fortunately, their ca- pacity remained to be used for the war effort, powered by home-produced coal rather than imported oil. After the end of the war, road competition revived and the railways suffered like the rest of the system. Earby station lost business and was gently declining in use.

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PARKER GREENWOOD OF GLEN FARM, RED LION STREET

Ken Ranson

Parker Greenwood was born in 1858 the only child of Robert Greenwood and Mar- garet Wilkinson. Robert was a farmer & grocer. Parker grew up at Glen farm on Red Lion Street and attended the local school. On leaving school he went to help his father on the farm.

In 1884 when Parker was 26 his mother died leaving the two men to fend for themselves until Robert's niece, Sarah Wilkinson, came to live-in as their domestic servant. Parker was single until he was 35 when in 1893 he married Elizabeth Ann Smith, a widow with a daughter Edith.

Marriage Entry Thornton Parish Church

So 1893 was a memorable year for Parker. He had finally married, and made plans to improve the farmhouse for his new bride and step-daughter, and eventually had children of his own, three sons, Robert, George and Maurice.

The additions to be made at the house can be seen over:

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He was very active in local affairs:

Earby representative on the Skipton rural district council 1907

Thornton parish councillor 1896, 1908

Earby representative on the Skipton Board of Guardians 1902, 1903,1904

A staunch advocate of anti-vaccination, he was summonsed twice for refusing to have his children vaccinated—in 1900 and 1901 and was in trouble again in 1903 for his views (see over).

Anti–vaccinators , who were known as “conscientious objectors” (from which name was used in WW1 as a military term).

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Parker died ion 7th January 1917 leaving a considerable amount of money.

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THE FISHER BEQUEST Documents and paintings originally belonging to the late Frank Fisher of 44 Skipton Rd Earby were donated some time ago to the Society by his nephew, Andy Fisher, when clearing his parent’s, the late Walter & Gwen Fisher’s, house. They include:  Scrapbook of local history – Bracewell and the Tempests  Miscellaneous newspaper cuttings  Various sketches and local scenes including Barlick Fever Wagon, Barlick Spud, Dr Falconer on motorbike, Parish Church, Earby butcher hawking meat, Lending a hand at haytime  Framed Paintings Richard Tempest, Barlick Spud, the Ford Salterforth early 19th century, Bailey Bros Hardware Cart 1919, the Men’s forum – mild caricature of village forum – the town bridge Salterforth At one time Frank Fisher worked for a Radio Relay firm and there are a series of cartoons featuring characters Broad and Caste – the Relay Twins, examples of which we will feature in the Chronicles.

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MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR THE SOCIETY AND THE COMMITTEE Meets at the Community We would like to thank all who have supported the Society dur- Centre, New Road, EARBY on the 3rd ing the past year, especially those who have assisted at meet- Tuesday of the ings or have contributed pieces for the Chronicles. month at 7.30 p.m. We are a small and ageing committee and would welcome any- one who has a love of local history to join us. The commitment ANNUAL need not be onerous but we do need more help. If you can as- SUBSCRIPTION sist in any way, do put your name forward before the AGM. £7.00 UK £9.00 Articles, photos, snippets of information are also urgently Overseas £13.00 needed to include in the quarterly Chronicles if they are to con- If you receive Chronicles by e- tinue. We are sure you all have a story to tell or a photograph to mail £7 fee appli- share. Please get in touch with the Editor. cable worldwide

In the meantime we send you all good wishes for Christmas and the New Year. CONTENTS:

Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy of information in this edition, this cannot be guaranteed.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

PROGRAMME Don’t forget this is 16th January—Respectable Rebels—Selina Cooper, Kathe- your newsletter. rine Glasier, Ethel Snowdon by Harold Hoggarth Send in articles, photos and any other 20th February—AGM and Joan “Wilkie” Wilkinson– I Had anecdotes, so that we get as wide a flavour a Wizard Time by Margaret Brown of Earby & District, yes that means 20th March– Kelbrook Takes on the Kaiser by Ian McKay Thornton in Craven, Kelbrook, Sough, Harden and Salterforth as well.

PRODUCED DATA PROTECTION ACT & printed EDITOR by Members details are held on computer for mailing and Stephanie Carter Earby & District compilation of a membership list. The details will not be 01756 794099 used for any other purpose without the express permission Local History of the member. If you do not wish your details to be held Society. on computer please inform the Treasurer immediately.